Try the Wrong Sense
TAoN No. 181: A guest prompt from author Bianca Bosker on beating your "filter of expectation." Plus a new Icebreaker, and more
A few months back I ran a post inspired by Bianca Bosker’s terrific book Get The Picture. As I wrote at the time:
Get The Picture has gotten lots of attention for taking a buzzy peek into the high-end art world, including its occasional absurdities. And that is very fun stuff. But also, threaded through the book, and animating its concluding section, is an articulation of Bosker’s evolving sense of how to appreciate art, and looking and perception in general. Some of that material has a very TAoN vibe.
That post focused on taking in art in a museum, and sparked some further thoughts on that subject. But I later had a nice exchange with Bosker herself, and among other things I noted how much I appreciated a broader idea in the book: the internal “filters of expectation” that basically cause us to perceive mostly what we expect to perceive — which means we can miss an awful lot, and not just at the museum.
To my absolute delight, she offered a guest-prompt exercise that can help us get around those filters. And I love it! Here it is, quoting Bosker directly:
We might like to think we see the world objectively and accurately, like video cameras, but really, vision is a hallucination. We all have "filters of expectation" that preemptively dismiss, ignore, and prioritize the raw data coming into our brains, even before we get the full picture.
One of my favorite ways to practice lifting our filters of expectation — and in so doing, experience more — is to contemplate something using a sense that seems totally irrelevant. Go to an art gallery and force yourself to imagine how a totally odorless painting would smell. Or take that houseplant on your windowsill — what sound would it make if it could talk? What song would it never quit singing? Taste (not literally) the book on your desk.
I love this exercise because it forces us to contemplate something from an unfamiliar angle, one where our minds and filters of expectation can't immediately fill in the blanks. When we ditch those filters of expectation, we open ourselves to new sources of information. And to more beauty.
This so good, a perfect example of the creative perception that is close to the heart of TAoN. Try it and see what it lets through your filters!
My thanks to Bianca Bosker! And obviously I recommend Get The Picture (Amazon; Bookshop.org), a really fun and perceptive read.
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Noticing is about other people, too. The Icebreaker series aims to help with that. There’s a central collection spot for all the icebreakers to date, here.
Today’s icebreaker comes from reader Helen D.:
If you were on Jeopardy, what category is your strength and would you love to get? Which category would you NOT like to see?
Thank you, Helen!
Please send your favorite icebreaker (whether you made it up or found it elsewhere) to consumed@robwalker.net. If I use your icebreaker you’ll get a free three-month sub to the paid edition of TAoN (or some other fun prize if you’re already a supporter).
IN OTHER NEWS
Nonsense Poll No. 4. Latest in a (pointless) series on Bluesky.
“What nurturing thing have you noticed this week, friends? What has this noticing done in you?” Nice little essay on Poetry Unbound, and I’m sure it will get a lot of good replies.
Not wholly unrelated to the above, Rubi collects whimsies (some really good ones), here.
Eric Kogan’s “playful photographs capture visual coincidences and interactions between his urban surroundings and nature.” More.
Subway Poker “utilizes the seating arrangement of passengers to create poker hands, adding a layer of excitement and unpredictability to your journey.” Via BoingBoing.
Poetry Prompts for Detained Children. Texas Observer.
NYT interviews Ed Yong (gift link), some good stuff in the section about his interest in birds, applies to attention more generally.
An appreciation of contrails. I’m a fan, too (though I call them chemtrails in honor of the absurd and rather venerable conspiracy theory).
OKAY THAT’S IT!
As always, I value your feedback: suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, etc. Constructive insults may be directed at me, not at anyone else. I also welcome your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers, at consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.
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Wow-- love this. I look forward to circumventing my "filters of expectation" more often!
I'm a docent at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. We always aim to actively engage visitors with the artworks ( rather than boringly lecturing at people). From time to time, I will ask people what music they may choose to complement a particular painting or sculpture. I think I will now add smell!